The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
